BERLIN

Trains lose air conditioning, leaving scores sweltering

A grueling heat wave shut down the air conditioning in three high-tech trains in Germany, leaving dozens of passengers near collapse trapped in temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, authorities said Sunday.

At least 52 people needed medical treatment and about 1,000 had to switch trains, according to Deutsche Bahn, the national railway system.

All three modern ICE trains — whose windows do not open — were headed west from Berlin on Saturday, Deutsche Bahn spokesman Juergen Kornmann said. While two lost their air conditioning fairly close to a station and could be emptied quickly, a third heated up some distance before reaching the city of Bielefeld. Eight people suffering from heat exhaustion needed to be hospitalized in Bielefeld and another 44 needed medical treatment.

RIO DE JANEIRO

Passenger jet resuming trip after no bomb turns up

An Air France passenger jet from Rio to Paris that made an emergency landing in northeastern Brazil due to a bomb threat was scheduled to take off again Sunday night after no explosive was found on board.

All 405 passengers and 18 crew members were safely evacuated from Air France Flight 443 on Saturday night, said a spokesman for Infraero, the Brazilian government’s airport authority.

The bomb threat was phoned in to Rio’s international airport by a female voice about 30 minutes after the plane took off, an Air France spokesman said.

BEIJING

China confirms renewing Google’s license to operate

China confirmed Sunday it had renewed Google’s license to operate after a months-long standoff over Internet censorship, saying the company had pledged it wouldn’t provide “lawbreaking content.”

The California-based giant said Friday it had received approval to operate in China, after it agreed to stop automatically rerouting users of Google.cn to its site in Hong Kong, which is not subject to China’s online censorship.

The company began the rerouting earlier this year when it decided to stop censoring its search results on the mainland site. The Chinese government operates the world’s most extensive system of Web monitoring and filtering, blocking pornographic sites as well as those seen as subversive to Communist rule.

TEHRAN, Iran

Clerics have special mission in Tehran schools this fall

The Iranian government says it will send hundreds of clerics into Tehran’s schools this fall to fight Western influence and the appeal of the political opposition, local newspapers reported Sunday.

The move is seen as an attempt by the government to tighten its grip on the schools in the aftermath of last year’s disputed presidential elections.

Mohammed Boniadi, deputy director of the Tehran education department, said some 1,000 clerics will descend on the schools of the capital to make students aware of “opposition plots and arrogance,” a reference to the attitude of Western nations.

 

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